an improvised response to loss + difficulty, after sandy

The grueling challenges wrought by Hurricane Sandy continue. The Nor’Easter has brought serious snow fall and cold; we’ve heard that some friends who just regained electrical power yesterday have lost it today. We cannot imagine the level of exhaustion and stress felt by people who have lost homes and are, literally, out in the cold with a fearsome set of realities to face.

This morning we received an email from our friend Jody Lotito Levine. As we’ve seen throughout the week, light unexpectedly keeps breaking through the darkness:

we were in the flow of everyone else – no electricity/heat for 8 days

backyard, basement level w/ALL of my storage in 6 ft. of water

some painful loss in the form of ALL videos, etc of my children since birth, all of their “keepsake” gone, except for what i am drying on the floor of my apt.

an amazing network of friends lifted myself and Julia w/incredible open hearts and kindness…anthony, who waited on a gas line for 2 hours and many others

as a member of the cert team, i ran one of the temporary shelters, worked w/doctors w/o borders and other organizations – built a community of volunteers and residents in the shelter that was miraculous and noteworthy – i will say that it was an amazing convergence of my skills – there were a multitude of heartwarming and uplifting moments among the debris and loss and confusion – donations flowed endlessly – i LEARNED a lot – was HUMBLED – and ultimately, deeply GRATEFUL…

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One thought on “an improvised response to loss + difficulty, after sandy”

“I was reading your blog and my heart just broke for all of those people whose lives were torn apart.
I remember when Irene struck last year and we had five feet of water in the basement.
I lost so much…books, letters, photos….etc.
In other words my entire life before Irene….the good news is …It was gone and I kept the memories deep within.
And I didn’t have to schlep everything with me for the rest of my life.
It was freeing. Very freeing. So in the horror of it all, I hope those who have had loss can have hope.”